aerobic respiration

In plant and animal cells, a complex process of chemical reactions in which oxygen is used to break glucose into carbon dioxide and water. Energy is released in this process. The starting and finishing points of this process would be the same if glucose was burned. During burning the energy that is released is all in the form of heat. In aerobic respiration, however, the energy is released in a controlled way and less is released as heat. Most of the released energy is used to drive various processes in the cell, such as growth or movement.

If insufficient oxygen reaches human muscles in severe exercise, such as a sprint, the muscles can carry on respiring using anaerobic respiration for a short time.